Description

As the Internet, digital tools, social media, and services have exponentially grown in the last two decades, it has become clear that uniform solutions to individual technology needs are no longer viable nor effective. Further, the current pace of technological innovation shows no sign of slowing down; the technology options from which we will be able to choose will only increase.

Given these changes, central IT at University of California, Berkeley (UCB) is pursuing a model of collaborative partnership with the entire campus with the understanding that there are for more existing and developing technologies than can be known by any one organization, and that leveraging the expertise across campus units will provide a more rich and extensive knowledge and support of technology.

In an effort to embrace this new model, the Deputy CIO, Michael Mundrane has funded the Technology Commons (TechCommons). Tech Commons will function as a "one-stop-shop" for IT support staff, faculty, staff and students to discover information about digital tools and services that are offered both on- and off-campus.
Tech Commons will host descriptive and definitional information about tools and services, opinion-based information from a user's personal experience and self-help information such as FAQs and "tips and tricks." When complete, Tech Commons will allow the campus community to contribute to an ever increasing knowledge of digital tools, increase a user's ability to self-select a product for a specific purpose, understand who is using specific tools and for what purposes and provide a venue for service providers to describe their offerings and acquire customer feedback. A core strength of this initiative will be the way that it leverages the collective knowledge of individuals across the campus.

In its initial phase it will be targeted to serve the needs of campus IT staff and central and departmental service providers. In subsequent phases, it will be made more user friendly to serve a more general audience.